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| Moissac. No idea of significance of outfits. Handing out delicious apple aperitif & cooking barbecue. |
The canal and the River Tarn at Moissac are separated by a couple of rows of houses, a road and an esplanade - usually a tranquil spot for a stroll. There was nothing tranquil about the area on the weekend of our arrival though. I have never seen so many carnival rides, rifle ranges and sundry other fairground attractions crammed so close together. You had to keep your wits about you for fear of losing them along with our head. How they all fitted in with their enormous trucks and extricated themselves once again after the weekend via the narrow access road I don't know. A bit like a 3D jigsaw puzzle.
The carnival was here as part of the festivities for the Pentecost weekend. Also in town were 8 young women competing for the title of Rosière de France. This isn't a beauty contest; the girls are supposed to be virtuous and hard working but I don't know what the judging entails although wearing white gowns seemed to be expected.The girls were driven around town in vintage cars accompanied by a brass band.
Moissac's own Rosière and the brass band then transferred to boats on the canal and proceeded down through the lock onto the river where they joined another boat full of young 'marins' (children dressed in sailor costumes).
These children and some older Marins had been stationed around the town all weekend handing out portions of bread to passers by. I did ask what the significance of the bread was but sadly didn't understand much of the answer (must be the accent).
The Rosière then threw a wreath into the water to commemorate all those sailors drowned in the river whilst the brass band played the Marseillaise. The solemnity of the moment was a slightly reduced by the competing swing band playing at an open air tea dance on the bank, plus the carnival ride music, screams and so on but no one seemed to care. In fact, the brass band then came ashore and continued to play with great gusto no more than 50 metres away form the swing band. Neither band missed a beat in their different repertoires and nor did the couples on dance floor.
The weekend finished with fireworks backlit spectacularly by lightning strikes. Apparently the display was curtailed by technical problems but I didn't notice. They had been practising all weekend with heart attack inducing, randomly timed explosions so nothing really should have gone wrong.
Moissac is now back to its normal, relatively quiet self. We are ready to make a move but it's raining. Plus we can't decide which way to go - east or west?
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